"The rankings are based on how long a town has had a team, how well a town supports those teams and the health of the town's economy, particularly the effect on attendance. Montgomery ranked 205th in tenure, 184th in attendance and 196th in economy."

The ranking has nothing to do with the strength of the system or its prospects.

Too bad about Montgomery. I attended some games there last year, and it is an absolutely beautiful stadium. The city looks rather run down though. The games we were at seemed pretty well attended, but I guess that is not the norm.

As for ranking the system's talent, it will be interesting to see where we rate next year. We have promoted the #1 or 2 prospect in the country (Price) so we have to see if what is left and what we have replenished keeps us near the top. I am guessing we will fall some but remain reasonably high.

I would be interested in seeing if Durham would move up on this list in a couple of years. There has been some major changes around the downtown region (right by the stadium) including the opening of a huge performance center that brings in people from around the state. My experience (not based on any actual data) is that there are people who make a weekend of it, with a show one night and a game the other, and people who are just "in the area" of the stadium and by walk-up tickets.